First of all, I would like to thank the two Chambers of Commerce, the Greek-Turkish Chamber of Commerce and the Izmir Chamber of Commerce for giving us the opportunity to say what we believe and think should be done, but most of all for giving entrepreneurs the opportunity to meet and move ahead with this cooperation.
I would also like to thank you because this morning I had a very pleasant and useful meeting with Minister Zafer Caglayan, whom I had the pleasure to meet in person, after having spoken to him on the phone during my first days in office in order to resolve a minor issue, for which I was pleased to find a solution with him. So our cooperation had a good start.
Today, following our one-to-one meeting, I feel that I not only have a neighbour with whom I cooperate well, but also a friend, and I now think that we will be able to take further, big steps from now on.
Let me say that it is a great pleasure for me to be taking part in the 9th Turkish Aegean Coast-Greek Aegean Islands Economic Summit, because in the past, we took steps backwards, and it is now important for us to work as closely as possible. And I think that encouraging contacts between the business communities of the two countries should be both sides’ priority.
This is precisely what we discussed this morning and let me start with the point that in the past, both Greek and Turkish companies have shown very significant investment interest in each other’s markets.
Total Greek investments in Turkey are now worth more than $6 billion. This is a very important sum for an economy such as Greece’s, but it is not enough, of course, and there is great room for improvement given the few sectors that it has been limited to: banks, IT, cement industries, aquaculture, healthcare, tourism, construction, plastics industry, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, communication, PR, consulting.
On the Turkish side, there are partnerships within the banking, IT, transport, services sectors and many more. The two economies essentially have a great deal in common and they can produce even more joint results.
This apart, I agree with what Mr. Caglayan said earlier; i.e., that joint efforts for Greek and Turkish companies to take common initiatives is an objective we must achieve. Both countries have some very serious businesses. For example, in the construction sector, in the field of energy in which they have the expertise, Greek and Turkish enterprises have the required seriousness and reputation abroad to work together to produce very positive results.
This is our starting point and based on that we achieved a satisfactory, rather good level of bilateral trade in 2008, which came to $3.3 billion. Just think that in 2008 our bilateral trade reached nearly $3.5 billion, when just 7 years ago it was only $800 million.
This represents an exponential increase in our trade transactions, which in 2009 – a time of crisis – recorded a significant drop; i.e., from $3.3 to $2.3 billion. A decline by 20% in just one year.
There were several factors behind it: the onset of the global financial crisis and a series of other parameters. But this should have been a wake-up call for us. This should have woken us up. And this is what we were discussing with the Minister today: when we hear alarm bells and we know where the global economy and the international crisis has brought us, the best we can do – because we owe it to both our peoples – is to cooperate as closely as possible.
Closing his speech today, Mr. Caglayan said that externalization is precisely the support that a national economy needs at times of crisis, when pressure is put on domestic economies and domestic demand contracts – which is what is happening in Greece’s case, precisely because of the stabilization programme, which we must, however, abide by. It is our duty to our homeland to implement each detailed provision to the letter.
And I explained this at our meeting this morning, i.e. that the Greek government has set off on implementing its programme to develop our economy’s externalization. Going abroad, claiming a stake in international markets, attracting investments to Greece. In all this we have a lot to share and work together on with Turkey.
I think that trade between our two countries should again exceed the existing 20% that we already mentioned. A very significant parameter relates to being able to work together within the framework of our bilateral relations and all our meetings to do away with any customs and other problems, as part of a mutually beneficial cooperation between our two countries.
We can find the tools in the Greek-Turkish Steering Committee’s 14th meeting, the 12th session of the Greek-Turkish Working Group on Trade and Economic Cooperation to be held in the coming months, as well as in the 4th meeting of the Greek-Turkish Economic Commission, which is scheduled to be held – if I’m not mistaken – in the second half of September 2010. And this morning we agreed that if preparatory meetings move at a satisfactory pace, we could pursue an earlier session, because there is no time to waste, we should move quickly.
Beyond that, we should look into the specific areas where we could work together. The first sector I will mention is tourism. Our countries are, I would say, perhaps two of the most beautiful countries in the whole world.
There is good progress with our bilateral cooperation on tourism. Progress has been remarkable on the part of Greece, but I think Turkish visitors to Greece will follow this upward trend too.
But the main thing that we should think about is that our two countries can also work together to attract visitors from far-away regions, e.g. Japan, China, and the Far East, for the purpose of visiting both our countries as part of the same trip. Think, for example, what a small rise in visitors from China – a country with such a big population – could mean for tourism in both Turkey and Greece.
Of equal importance is cooperation between the two countries in the field of transport. We intend to hold a meeting of the Joint Commission on Road Transport in April, and we are also planning to move ahead with projects to link our two countries; e.g., the creation of the Thessaloniki-Istanbul European Corridor by developing train and road linkages between Greece and Istanbul.
There are plans for constructing a second bridge on the border crossing of Kipoi-Ipsala, on which there is already a relevant Greek-Turkish agreement ratified by the Greek Parliament in 2007, and I believe that the Turkish ratification will follow.
With regard to shipping, Ms. Katseli mentioned it earlier. There are new connections of significant interest, such as the connection between Izmir and Thessaloniki which I guess is of great interest to the Chamber. But there could also be seasonal shipping connections in the northern Aegean.
And of course, another major sector is energy. Our countries have very specific characteristics and I am not just referring to renewable energy sources. I will start with projects that could render us significant hubs for the broader geographical region.
One such project is the IΤGΙ pipeline from Turkey to Italy, on which I agree with what Minister Caglayan said earlier, i.e. that in reality we should show how we can move ahead swiftly with such initiatives, in order for our trade to move forward too.
Because you realise that such a project could give Turkey a significant strategic advantage – given its proximity to sources of natural gas production and to Europe – as the first country on the way to European markets. We should follow such significant initiatives.
As regards our energy policies – in Greece, the institutional framework is being modernised and Turkey has taken very big steps – our two countries can constitute a very strong force towards promoting renewable energy sources across the broader region.
Another important sectors is agriculture, on which we held the 3rd Session of the Agricultural Steering Commission a year ago.
And finally, a sector of particular importance for cooperation between our two countries is aquaculture, on which we discussed introducing certain provisions in order to move even further on this cooperation; think, however, that Greece already has a 50% share in the entire EU’s exports. Cooperation between our two countries could significantly increase these levels and the volume of trade.
From an institutional point of view, I would like to mention our very good cooperation within the framework of the BSEC, whose Chairmanship Greece will assume in a few months, as you already know. I think that this will be a good opportunity to show our good cooperation with Turkey. The same goes for the BSEC’s Business Council which contributes to its work, as well as other fora.
In my view, communication between business missions is perhaps the most important thing of all. Mr. Caglayan spoke about the 200 or more businesspeople from Turkey who came on this mission to Greece with him.
I can only congratulate them and say that he has placed the bar high for me - although I am much newer to this post than him - to be able to tour around the world in order to reach him. And I hope that we will be able to have these continuous, targeted exchanges – knowing precisely what it is we want – in order to produce results.
I personally believe, having spent a lot of time with friends from Turkey when I was a student and later as part of my professional activities, that there are so many things that our countries have in common that we should really help the seeds planted by Ismail Cem and George Papandreou to flourish so that economic cooperation and economic diplomacy between our two countries can become the main point, and all other issues will then seem too minor for us to sit and discuss.
Thank you very much.